Prozac added to Medi-Cal formulary; antidepressant now covered by Medicaid programs in all 50 states

Business Wire, Feb 20, 1996

INDIANAPOLIS--(HealthWire)--Feb. 20, 1996--Eli Lilly and Company announced today that Prozac(R), the world's most widely prescribed branded antidepressant, will be added to the formulary of Medi-Cal, the Medicaid program of the state of California.

Medi-Cal is the largest state Medicaid program in the United States. Prozac is already represented on the formularies of the 49 other state Medicaid programs. The medicine also is covered by the formularies of almost all California-based managed-care organizations and 99.6 percent of U.S. managed-care organizations.

"Lilly applauds the state of California for offering its Medicaid patients access to the same pharmaceutical choices available to patients covered by other health plans," said Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., president of Lilly's North American pharmaceutical operations. "The addition of Prozac to Medi-Cal's formulary clearly demonstrates that health care decision-makers recognize the long-term clinical and economic value of innovative therapies."

Prozac was the first of a new class of antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), to be made available in the United States. Lilly presented substantial data to Medi-Cal in support of Prozac's clinical effectiveness and economic value.

"Along with an excellent side-effect profile, Prozac's ease of dosage is one of the product's strongest therapeutic advantages," said Steven M. Paul, M.D., vice president of Lilly Research Laboratories for central-nervous-system research. "In the management of clinical depression, 20 mg of Prozac once a day is generally the starting dose and the most effective dose for the majority of patients. Because the average patient does not require frequent adjustments in dosage to attain what is considered the therapeutic dose, he or she may achieve the desired outcome faster."

Prozac is the most thoroughly studied and time-proven of the SSRIs, having been prescribed for more than 21 million patients in more than 90 countries. In the United States, Prozac is the only medicine cleared for use in treating both clinical depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Lilly is a global research-based pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., that is dedicated to creating and delivering superior health care solutions--by combining pharmaceutical innovation, existing pharmaceutical technology, disease prevention and management, and information technologies--in order to provide customers worldwide with optimal clinical and economic outcomes.

Prozac(R) (fluoxetine hydrochloride, Dista)

CONTACT: Eli Lilly & Company, Indianapolis

Jeffrey G. Newton, 317/276-3570